Two Men Arrested for Souveneering At Paul Walker’s Death Site

Detectives yesterday arrested an 18-year-old and a 25-year-old from Canyon Country, California for stealing wrecked Porsche parts from the nearby wreckage of the crash that killed Paul Walker and Roger Rodas. I guess it’s a good thing they don’t live near the site of the zeppelin explosion that killed Nelson Mandela.

The theft occurred as the 2005 Porsche Carrera GT was being towed from the accident scene on Saturday night, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said.

Witnesses told investigators that they saw someone driving behind the tow truck that was hauling away wreckage hours after the fiery crash that killed Walker and friend Roger Rodas, who was driving the car and also died.

The witnesses said a man got out of the car when the truck was at a stoplight, grabbed the part, and drove away.

Detectives identified the two suspects, and while serving a search warrant at a home in Canyon Country, a community north of Los Angeles, they found a red T-top roof panel from the Porsche, sheriff’s officials said. They would not say what led them to the two men or what evidence they had against them.

The investigation led detectives to Jameson Witty, 18, who was arrested at his home in Los Angeles and was being held on $20,000 bail, the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. A second suspect, a 25-year-old man whose name has not been released, was outside California and arranging to surrender, the statement said.

Hmm, so they identified him to the press but haven’t yet filed charges. That’s a, shall we say, interesting strategy. In any case, I’m sure the cyber lynch mob will be quick to demonize these guys, but I sympathize, a little. Last night I was driving through the area where the Walker/Rodas crash took place and I thought about stopping. But then I thought, what am I going to do there? Look for the shrine? Take a selfie in front of it like an asshole? I decided against it, but I can see how one might act on an idiotic, spur-of-the-moment impulse to grab a souvenir before thinking about it. Especially if they lack a certain level of reflection, commensurate with being young and having parents that named them after a whiskey.

Speaking of how dumbasses respond to tragedy, I recently got a tip about this status update vis-a-vis Paul Walker and Nelson Mandela. I find the level of proud dipshittery to be simply sublime:

“Look, you guys, I guess I’m not really sure what I’m even trying to say here, but I think it’s that I’m an idiot and the fact that I can say that is what makes America great.”

It took me five minutes to realize your scribble over the face/name of Facebook guy was a scribble and not some weird porsche part. Maybe I should start reading your paragraphs in the order they are presented.

I’m not a faceyspace guy but i’d bet dollars to doughnuts the response to Walker’s death was much larger and more heartfelt on social media. I’m cool with this. This makes me feel superior and daddy loves him some superiority.

I think my favorite part is where he seems to think that people making a choice to care more about Paul Walker than Nelson Mandela is what makes this country great instead of it just making that person kind of numskull. I mean, does every choice “make this country great”?

I woke up today and chose Yuban instead of Maxwell House. I mean, really guys, that’s what makes this country great.

THAT IS NOT WHAT MAKES THIS FUCKING COUNTRY GREAT, YOU FUCKING SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE.

That Facebook comment is a sad testament to our vapid culture but frankly, so are all the emphatic Mandela memorials. He was a great figure that affected many lasting positive changes, but whitewashing his history does a disservice to humanity and our perception of morals. Act of Killing explained this well, that good and evil aren’t clearly defined; Mandela was responsible for the deaths of innocents yet brought about peace for countless individuals; this is a dichotomy that needs to be discussed. WW2 was brought to an end by what was essentially a terrorist act (firebombing of civilian towns and the two nuclear bombs). If we’re going to keep calling Mandela a beacon of humanity and peace, we need to create a clearer definition of peace.